Labour to base publicly-owned energy company in Scotland as Starmer launches green vision in Edinburgh

The Labour leader will present plans to hit net zero targets at an event in Leith today.

Labour will base their taxpayer-owned energy company in Scotland in a bid to outflank their nationalist rivals on green policies, Sir Keir Starmer is set to announce.

The party’s plans are set to be revealed in a speech by the Labour leader in Edinburgh today as he and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar attempt to continue gaining momentum in Scotland amid SNP turmoil caused by the ongoing police investigation into their finances.

Sir Keir will pledge that his party’s energy plans “will be made in Scotland” and deliver 50,000 jobs in clean energy sector in Scotland.

However, critics said Labour’s plans to stop new oil and gas licences in Scotland once they are in power would lead to the loss of thousands of jobs and lead to a “devastating cliff edge” for the industry in the north east of Scotland.

It is also understood there is some private discontent among some of Scottish Labour’s own MSPs about the plans, particularly around oil and gas.

The pledge to establish ‘GB Energy’ in Scotland is a bid to outflank the SNP on energy issues after the party ditched their plans for a publicly-owned, Scottish Government funded energy company it promised to deliver in its 2016 Holyrood manifesto.

The Scottish Government have instead announced plans to create a “new dedicated national public energy agency”, effectively an advisory body, to help deliver its green energy plans.Labour will also pledge to double the number of jobs in low carbon sectors in Scotland to 50,000, while delivering what it called a “clean power system” that would allegedly save up to £8.4bn before 2030 and knock £1,400 off family bills per year.

To do so, Sir Keir is expected to set out new targets to cut the time taken to complete clean power projects from “years to months” by removing planning barriers for green initiatives.

The party’s announcement will set out how a new public body, GB Energy, will collaborate with councils, communities and the private sector to bring down energy costs.

The power plan would be directly owned by local people, with profits from the energy sold to the grid from local renewable energy schemes being returned to the community through discounts on bills for households in need, Labour said.

GB Energy will make available up to £600 million in funding for councils and up to £400 million in low-interest loans each year for communities, it claims.

The ban on new onshore wind would also be axed within months of a Labour government coming to power and measures would be introduced to ensure relevant regulators has a net zero mandate.

The Labour leader said: “The route to making Britain a clean energy superpower, slashing energy bills and creating tens of thousands of quality jobs runs through Scotland. 

“That is why GB Energy, our publicly owned energy company, will be headquartered in Scotland, the heart of the British energy industry.

“I mean it when I say that our energy plans will be made in Scotland- cutting energy bills for Scottish families and delivering the jobs and investment in Scottish communities that for far too long have been let down by the SNP and Conservatives.

“When it comes to capitalising on Scotland’s energy resources, for fifteen years the SNP Government has chased the headlines but not done the work. Labour will deliver- lower bills, good jobs, and energy security for Scotland and the whole UK, as Britain leads the world in the fight against climate change.”

In a clear reference to Alex Salmond’s promises that Scotland would become the Saudi Arabia of renewable energy, Mr Sarwar said he wanted Scotland and the UK to “lead the world in the green revolution”

Speaking to the BBC, he said: “I want Scotland to lead the world and the UK to lead the world in the green revolution and that’s why through GBE, the Great British energy company, we will make those strategic investments to make sure we realise that ambition and that’s partly partnering with local authorities, devolved administrations as well as those larger-scale strategic investments so we can leverage in the industry, so we can deliver that transformation that’s good for the north east, good for Scotland and good for every party of the UK.”

It comes after Labour recently backtracked on its £28 billion green prosperity plan in a bid to underline its commitment to “financial stability”.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said drastic changes to the economic backdrop over the past two years meant the party’s full spending pledge should be delayed.

Labour had promised in 2021 to invest £28 billion a year until 2030 in green projects if it came to power, but Ms Reeves said that this figure would instead be a target to work towards in the second half of a first parliament.

Mr Sarwar said that this move demonstrated the party was “being realistic about the economic circumstances we’re currently living in”.

He also said there would be “no cliff edge”, when asked about the party’s policy to ban new oil and gas extraction licences in the North Sea and whether it would lead to job losses.

However, Scottish Conservative net zero spokesperson, Liam Kerr, said the “reckless” approach to oil and gas from Labour would lead to 90,000 jobs being lost.

The North East MSP also demanded Sir Keir Starmer sack his shadow net zero spokesperson, Ed Miliband, for the policy.

He said: “This naïve approach displays breath-taking ignorance of the climate emergency, the need for energy security, and plays fast and loose with tens of thousands of UK jobs.

“That is the definition of economic and environmental illiteracy. We all want a just transition to net zero, but we don’t yet have the capacity from renewables to meet our energy needs. Halting domestic oil and gas production now would force us to import fossil fuels from overseas at huge cost, increasing our carbon footprint in the process and betraying highly-skilled UK workers.

“Keir Starmer should show some leadership by ditching these ignorant plans and sacking the man who apparently devised them. Ed Miliband should pay for this ignorant and economically illiterate policy with his job.”

Mr Kerr also criticised Anas Sarwar’s position, stating that workers in the North East would not be “fooled” by promises of new jobs.

He added: “Anas Sarwar is in complete denial over the tens of thousands of skilled Scottish jobs Labour’s oil and gas plans would put at risk. He has admitted that Labour in government would ban all new developments in the North Sea. North East communities know this would mean a devastating cliff edge for the industry and a betrayal of the livelihoods it supports.

“They won’t be fooled by Anas Sarwar’s glib, unevidenced promises of ‘more jobs’ and ‘cheaper bills’ if Labour were ever to carry out their threats to turn off the taps.

“Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband may be courting the votes of Just Stop Oil extremists, but as the leader of Scottish Labour, Anas Sarwar should know better. Labour's back-of-a-fag-packet posturing on energy is naïve, ignorant and utterly superficial.”

SNP Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman Alan Brown said: "Whether it's the Tories or the pro-Brexit Labour Party, Westminster politicians have used Scotland as an energy cash cow for decades, so the pretence that they suddenly want to deliver a strategy for Scotland now is laughable.

"In Scotland, the damage of Westminster control is already done. Keir Starmer's piecemeal proposal is too little, too late - and shows exactly why Scotland needs the full powers of independence.

“It has been decades of Westminster governments failing to properly harness Scotland’s immense energy resources that has left people across Scotland paying the price. Promising a GB Energy HQ doesn’t make up for decades of squandered oil and gas revenues.

"The SNP is serious about the transformative potential of green energy to Scotland's success as part of a Just Transition - and the ambitious ScotWind project and the Scottish Government's £500 million Just Transition Fund attest to that. But we want to go further.

"Labour is pro-Brexit, while Scotland is not. That means a UK Labour government will continue to ignore the needs, interests and wishes of people across Scotland and actively pursue policy that harms our interests. It could not be clearer that Scotland needs the full powers of independence to properly deliver clean, green and affordable renewable energy for the benefit of people living and working here.